That's according to Maine 1st District Rep. Chellie Pingree, who says the Navy today informed her that the ceremony scheduled for Oct. 19 will be put off.

A christening ceremony for the first in a new class of Navy destroyer, built at Bath Iron Works, is being delayed because of the government shutdown.

That's according to Maine 1st District Rep. Chellie Pingree, who says the Navy today informed her that the launch ceremony for the future USS Zumwalt, scheduled for Oct. 19, will be put off.

"The launch of the Zumwalt is a big deal, but the government shutdown just made it impossible for the Navy to pull off the christening ceremony," Pingree says in a statement. "Obviously it will be rescheduled but it is a bit of a disappointment for the men and women at BIW who have worked so long and so hard to get the Zumwalt ready for launch."

The USS Zumwalt is the first of the Navy's new DDG-1000 destroyers, and has been under construction at the Bath shipyard since 2009, Pingree says. She says the ship will be launched on schedule, despite the delay of the ceremony that usually accompanies such events.

Pingree says the shutdown has already led to layoffs, a decline in tourism and cutbacks in small business lending, among other things.